Windows 10 has always offered robust customization options, but Google’s Chrome OS is updating itself. Chrome OS 88, which launched on Tuesday, now offers the ability to customize your lock screen, as well as some security conveniences for accessing websites.
Specifically, Chrome OS 88 now offers the ability to pull from your Google Photos when displaying the lock screen. The Google operating system now also supports WebAuthn, a standard that allows you to use your Chromebook as a second factor for signing in to websites.
The debate between buying a Chromebook and a Windows laptop involves many fronts. Windows offers many options for customizing your PC. Chromebooks have always suffered a bit here – they were designed primarily to get things done.
Google Google’s Chrome OS 88 now includes a lock screen with media controls and its own artwork.
With Chrome 88, if you enter the Chrome OS settings menu, and from there Personalization> Screen saver, you will find a variety of new options. You can use Google Photos to display images from your collection on the lock screen, or use one of Google’s own images. According to Google, you can also check information like the current weather and what music is playing, as well as pause a track or skip songs without unlocking your device. It may not be as good as, say, a Google Nest smart display, but it isn’t bad either.
Google Security additions to Chrome 88 are also useful. Chrome OS now supports WebAuthn, a technology that allows you to ignore the use of passwords when signing in to a compatible website. Although we have argued that storing your password in the browser is not as secure or convenient as a password manager – these password managers also don’t run as an application on Chrome OS.
Instead, if you sign in to a supported website, like Dropbox, GitHub or Okta, you can use WebAuthn on Chrome OS to sign in using your Chromebook instead of a password. The Chromebook is being used as a factor in two-factor authentication – a device you know you own. The WebAuthn-enabled site will ask for another factor – something you know (your Chromebook PIN) or something that identifies you as you. In the latter case, this means that if your Chromebook has a fingerprint reader, you can use it to authenticate.
Currently, only a few Chromebooks ship with fingerprint readers, so the introduction of this feature could mean that a change is about to happen – and Chrome OS 88 is setting the stage. One of the coolest and most convenient features on a Windows PC is Windows Hello. Will Chromebooks have something similar?